Thread: Warrant: Haunt plan for 2010 - Toxic Waste Zombie Catastrophe

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Here's my plan for this year, publicaly called "Admiral Hartman Toxic Waste Storage and Detention Facility", and on a small attached placard, "Now with improved power!" Keeping the same toxic waste theme from last year but beefing it up. The whole thing will be open air with raised walls. They enter and turn to the left, making a right handed loop around the yard. Wifeypoo will work traffic control at the entrance/exit; I will wander around, providing security, maintenance, oversight, and documentation.

The front yard will have the usual graveyard with an added giant spider and egg sacs.

Things I learned from last year:
- Keep the path shielded from view.
- Too much open space with nothing to look at is boring.
- Live actors make the haunt great.
- Start accumulating building materials months, not weeks, in advance.
- Stick to the plan!

Control Room: 2 live actors, strobe, smoke, control table and monitor.
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Prison: Storage shed with a prison bar grating over door, live actor.
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Mad Scientist Lab: Beefing this up with new control panels, hoses, wires, and science stuff. Using my 10'x10' popup canopy, live actors for doctor and patient on table with bloody covering. Body parts and decanters on shelf; spinning vat of toxic waste to inject into patients. Available lime green koolaid or jello so tot's can sample the "toxic waste".
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Wasteland: Pallets, wood beams, fake boulders, faux fire making the tot's move slowly through it. Beams will be bolted in at 45deg angles making it difficult to navigate.
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Nuclear Reator: Wrapping my trampoline in black plastic, adding glowing green lights, smoke, thunderous Toxic soundtrack, oozing toxic waste on the ground, bottomless pit viewing window, air blower aimed at tot path. Toxic waste barrels, black light. Pallets will have green lights from below simulating a leak in the ground.
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Zombie Sewer: Haven't figured what to call this area yet, but it's the escape route from the reactor. Mesh will cover ceiling at the first turn with a green flood above casting shadows. Live actor zombies strobelights will be in the switchbacks to chase the tot's. A switchback at the end to slow them down and prevent collisions at the candy station.
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Candy Area: My sweet little girl will hand out the candy in the safe area.

Looking great. Love your plan, looking forward to seeing some pictures as this comes about.

Pallets with the green lights from below simulating a leak in the ground will be a sweet effect, it doesn't have to be complicated to make a great effect.
I have to give you credit you actually have a floor plan of your haunt, I have never done that I just sort of wing it. At some point I would love to get one of those huge green army tents set it up in my back yard and take my time adding different rooms.

looks good. i always draw up a floor plan too. but a lot of times as we go along things don't work or we think of something better. but still with the floor plan at least one is looking at something to start with.

I love the layout that you are going to do. I do a couple rough draft plans of what I'm going to do but, I don't have any program to create such a nice looking one like yours. I'm impressed that you can use your back yard also. We have about a 1/2 acre and I would love to use the back yard but, it would have to be really well lit for a path. I would also have to triple the amount of props I have now. Though just doing the front yard is getting a little crowded with so many different themes going on.

Yes, the large area is nice, but it also puts on the extra burden of accounting for all that space. Last year I underestimated what it would take to setup the back yard, and had lots of open areas and dead space (nothing going on) with the other parts of the haunt visible. I later realized I needed about 4x the amount of materials (pallets and cardboard) to be effective. I had a few large sheets of black plastic that helped make barriers, though.

Fortunately, the scares kept most of the attention in front of them and they didn't look around...too much.

I also had the Mad Scientist lab as the last room, but folks were so scared with the preceading zombies that they ran right through the lab, not looking back. "Wait! I got some cool props here!" ...that I worked so hard on...

This year the lab is moved to an earlier area where tot's can look and interact.

Love your layout! I would be worried about the wasteland a little bit though. If you're making it harder to navigate through is it going to be well lit and have fewer scares? No one wants to see tots get hurt Or maybe I misunderstood??

Warrant2000 awesome layout! Have you started biulding some of the Halloween props? I am still thinking of a theme.

good plaN.

Junit: good point and you are correct. There will be no scares and it will be well lit.

I have many props from last year, but have a few significant ones to build; bottomless pit, and labratory control panel. I'm gathering building and craftng items like wires valves, etc.

Thanks for the comments!